LAGuide

The Best Restaurants In Silver Lake

16 great spots to eat sushi, pasta, ceviche, and more in Silver Lake.
The Best Restaurants In Silver Lake image

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Ah yes, the golden hills of the trendy people. Silver Lake is a special place. Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers owns a music conservatory here, almost everything smells like Aesop soap, and the ghost of the happy foot/sad foot sign holds immense local superstition (RIP). Luckily, this tiny, very hilly neighborhood also has fantastic restaurants. Here's where you should be eating in the neighborhood.

THE SPOTS

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Wine Bar

Silver Lake

$$$$Perfect For:Small PlatesDrinking Good Wine
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The Ruby Fruit is a fun natural wine bar that also happens to be LA's first lesbian bar in about a decade. There are a handful of places to sit inside, but the party spills out onto the sidewalk and even the parking lot on a nightly basis. Bring your laptop and come for lunch, when this strip mall spot serves some excellent daytime dishes like a mortadella, egg and cheese on a pretzel bagel, as well as loaded curly fries and an open-faced tuna melt topped with a handful of chips.


photo credit: Matt Gendal

If you’re someone who enjoys food trucks, mariscos, and/or eating sweet and spicy dishes, you'll be very into Simón. The chef comes from a fine dining background in Oaxaca, which shines through in various ceviches and things like a barbacoa octopus taco. If we had to pick a highlight on the menu, it'd be the aguachile negro in an inky black sauce that’s silky, a bit sweet, and punchy. We also love that Simón has its own refrigerated self-serve salsa cabinet. They offer five different housemade options and if you're not sure which one to try, the jar labels provide taco pairing suggestions.

This Indian sports bar offers stimulation with a capital S. There are three giant flatscreen TVs on each wall showing any game you can imagine and the dining room uses mid-century modern furniture and neon lights in a way that reminds us of a vintage arcade. Plus, the food is just fun. Thin-crust pizzas come topped with saag gravy. Wings are doused in masala and Kashmiri red chilis. Our favorite dishes here are the pastas, though—don't miss the malai rigatoni. Come to watch a game (duh), but also for casual hangs with friends who want to eat something memorable.


Eating at Ceviche Project feels like dropping into a Miami club in the ’80s: it’s tropical, there’s flair, and you’re definitely going to have fun. Grab a seat at the marble bar and enjoy vibrant scallops off the half shell, tai snapper ceviche, and their kanpachi tostada—a stunning dish topped with so much trout roe, yellowfish, and avocado cream, it almost reaches all the way to heaven.

There was a time when Alimento was one of the hardest tables to get in Los Angeles. And for good reason—the chicken liver crostone alone was enough to get us to willingly drive from Venice to Silver Lake on a Friday afternoon. And while the food is as good as it’s ever been, Alimento has relaxed into "Nice Neighborhood Restaurant" territory. You won't have any trouble walking in tonight for a glass of wine and a plate of their pork radiatori (which we think should win some sort of award).


The second location of the massively popular Thai restaurant might not have the part-time setting and beer towers like its original Sunset Strip locale, but its kitschy feel is the perfect match for Silver Lake. This is some of the finest Thai food in the city, in a casual setting suited for almost anything, just be sure to order the larb and plenty of natural wine to wash it all down.


Of course the oysters here are spectacular (creamy and briny, like someone hand-delivered them from the ocean), but this neighborhood restaurant also serves a solid burger, a cobb salad that's heavy on bacon bits, and a smoked fish dip that comes with crackers made in-house. There’s an upstairs space with a limited menu and Happy Hour specials, and they’ve also taken over the sidewalk out front where well-dressed couples always seem to be sipping white negronis and smiling.


$$$$Perfect For:BrunchDay DrinkingLunch
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Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, this American comfort food restaurant lives up to its name. You’ll find them in a bright-red building on Sunset Blvd., slinging hot catfish sandwiches and breakfast burritos the size of newborn babies in the morning then oyster pot pies and NY strip steaks at night. They also offer special dessert orders, like whole chocolate pudding pies, cinnamon rolls slathered with labneh frosting, and banana bread loaves—like we said, they really do it all.


We’re as tired as you of this whole “NYC vs. The Rest of the World” debate when it comes to bagel-making, so we’ll skip straight to the point: Maury’s bakes a damn good bagel. Operating out of a red-brick building in a more residential part of Silver Lake, this takeout-only spot serves bagels that are pliable and chewy, plus a whole bunch of cured fish options for every breakfast aficionado in your friend group. If you're looking for something beyond the well-done classics, get a bagel with buttery black cod or a $22 version piled high with lox and wasabi tobiko cream cheese.


The team behind local taqueria chain Guisados is responsible for this walk-up mariscos stand on Sunset Blvd. Although the menu here is pretty compact, you still have a good number of options—flour or corn tortillas, shrimp or fish tacos, whether to rip into the bag as soon as it’s ready or wait until you get to the table like a civilized person, etc. Both shrimp and fish tacos are beer-battered and have a nice crunch, and their seafood-packed campechana is the ideal snack while strolling around the neighborhood.


We first became obsessed with La Sorted’s brick-oven pizza as a pop-up. These days, you’ll find them at a takeout window in Silver Lake. Maybe it’s the brick-and-mortar digs, or the power that comes with being so close to Dodger Stadium, but this iteration of La Sorted's has earned a place in the LA pizza pantheon as well as our stomachs. The crust is chewy and bubbly, and toppings range from burrata to artichoke pesto to giardiniera. Our top pick is the “Spicy, But Oh, So Sweet Boy,” a version of the now-ubiquitous pepperoni and hot honey combo set off with Fresno chiles and fresh garlic.


photo credit: Andrea D'Agosto

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This lively Greek spot in Silver Lake (formerly Freedman’s) feels like a remnant of summer that never left. The dining room is adorned with miniature Greek busts, vines dangle everywhere, and there’s a blue and white patio in the parking lot that—at least after a few bottles of Greek wine—looks a little like a terrace in Mykonos. Order the feta-stuffed phyllo pocket, juicy lamb chops, and the correctly advertised “very lemony” potatoes.


Whenever we’re feeling nutrient-deprived, we head to Botanica. Located in a big bright space on Silver Lake Blvd., a meal here is textbook pleasant. Light streams in from the windows, gorgeous melons are sprinkled with feta and just-picked mint leaves, and crudite platters look as if constructed by Michelangelo.


Spoon & Pork treats pork like Bowen Yang treats airtime on Saturday Night Live: as an opportunity to steal the spotlight. This Filipino spot serves all sorts of dishes honoring the all-sacred pig, including adobo pork belly, chorizo burgers, pork belly bánh mì, and more. But the star of the show here is the massive patita: a tender, sweet, spicy, and very garlic-heavy pork shank dish that’s slow-roasted and then deep-fried. Could it last you three meals? Maybe. Will you finish it in one? Probably.


Despite having the word “omakase” in its name, the omakase isn't a required activity at this fun, casual sushi bar from the Izakaya Osen people. You can come to this blonde wood-lined space on Sunset and order everything a la carte, which is good news if you aren’t up to dropping $150 per person. We love the hefty hand rolls filled with things like baked king crab, fried eggplant, and white fish with truffle, as well as the miso crab salmon from the “cold signatures” section. Five giant clumps of snow crab are wrapped in salmon sashimi and drizzled with truffle oil and miso dressing. Is it silly and a bit over the top? Sure, but it's also incredible.


Since its inception back in the 1960s, Casita Del Campo has remained one of the most reliable places in Silver Lake to have a good time. The classic Mexican restaurant—and historic queer nightlife institution—serves a wide-ranging menu of enchiladas, burritos, sizzling fajitas plates, and margaritas so strong, they should come with an FDA warning. They’ve also transformed their parking lot into a beautiful, expansive patio, complete with brightly colored potted plants, string lights overhead, and more than enough space for birthday parties.

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